Following in Ford’s and Haval’s footsteps, iconic off-road brand, Jeep has reclassified the Jeep Grand Cherokee 4×4 range as MC equivalent.

THE NEW JEEP GRAND CHEROKEE has been re-classified as an MC equivalent, with documents published this week on RVCS (Road Vehicle Certification System) revealed the refreshed 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4×4 (excluding the 4×2 variants which remain, and rightly so, as MA passenger vehicles) had been re-classified as MC equivalent.

And the good news for Jeep owners continues with documents revealing the iconic off-road brand is likely to backdate its re-classification to make the 2015 model MC-equivalent, too in the same way that Ford did with Everests that had already been sold and were plated as MA. 

The move to reclassify the Jeep Grand Cherokee follows hot on the heels of the brand rolling out its new five-year warranty, and shows the brand is working hard to rebuild its reputation. In case you missed the news, Jeep’s There & Back Again Guarantee, covers “the compact Renegade to the rugged Wrangler and refined Grand Cherokee, all MY17 Jeep vehicles sold in February 2017 will come with a fully transferable, five-year/100,000km manufacturer’s warranty. In addition, to ensure that MY16 Jeep vehicles sold from February 2017 don’t miss out, for those models Jeep Australia is combining the standard three-year manufacturer’s warranty with a two-year extended warranty provided by Eric Insurance Limited”.

Practical Motoring spoke with FCA senior manager of communications, Glenn Butler who said the reason Jeep was reclassifying its Grand Cherokee as an MC, was because of customer feedback. “Jeep vehicles are among the most capable offroaders in the world, and the Jeep brand is synonymous with adventure and freedom. So when some of our customers told us MC classification was an important issue for them, we responded.”

But what about why Jeep moved away from MC classification to MA passenger vehicle classification? 

“Firstly, the benefit which used to exist for off-road (MC) category vehicles was a lower duty rate for parts on an MC category vehicle – this no longer exists,” Butler said.

“Secondly, the requirement to have 4WD would automatically eliminate the Laredo 4×2, meaning we would need to certify the Grand Cherokee as two approvals (one MA and one MC category). Given there is no longer any advantage to certify as an MC category vehicle and the applicable ADRs for a vehicle of this type are largely identical, it does not make any sense to certify the one model under two vehicle categories.”